Cone Mills Corporation

Cone Mills Corporation (and predecessor Proximity Manufacturing Company and its other subsidiary and affiliated companies) manufactured denim and other textiles chiefly in North Carolina and South Carolina. Moses Herman Cone (1857-1908), Ceasar Cone (1859-1917), and other Cone family members began investing in the textile industry in the late nineteenth century and for much of the twentieth century were world leaders in textile manufacturing. The collection consists of the records of Cone Mills Corporation, Proximity Manufacturing Company (especially Proximity Cotton Mill, Proximity Print Works, and White Oak Mill), and other companies.

In 1845, Herman Kahn (1828-1897), who later Americanized his last name to Cone, was a Jewish immigrant to the United States from Bavaria, Germany. In 1876, he opened H. Cone & Sons, a wholesale grocery firm. Two of his sons, Moses H. Cone (1857-1908) and Ceasar Cone (1859-1917) worked as traveling salesmen for their father's Baltimore-based company, often bartering groceries for southern textiles and selling them outside the South. Herman Cone's other children, many of whom would later be involved in Moses and Ceasar's business undertakings, included Carrie (1861-1927), Monroe (1862-1891), Claribel (1864-1929), Albert (1866-1867), Solomon (1868-1939), Sydney M. (1869-1939), Etta (1870-1949), Julius W. (1872-1940), Bernard M. (1874-1956), Clarence N. (1876-1929), and Frederick W. (1978-1944).

In 1887, Moses and Ceasar Cone invested $50,000 in the establishment of C. E. Graham Mill Manufacturing Company of Asheville, N.C., which manufactured plaid fabrics. The name of the mill was changed to Asheville Cotton Mills in 1893, and then to Asheville Fabrics Mill Inc. in 1948. In 1888, the brothers invested in Salisbury Cotton Mills of Salisbury, N.C., and Minneola Manufacturing Comany of Gibsonville, N.C., both of which also produced plaid fabrics.

In 1891, Moses and Ceasar Cone established the Cone Export & Commission Company as a northern selling agent for southern textiles. Chartered in New Jersey, the company's headquarters was located on Worth Street in New York, N.Y., and Moses Cone served as president. In 1893, the Cones built one of the first finishing plants in the South, Southern Finishing & Warehouse Company, in Greensboro, N.C.

In 1895, the Cones built in Greensboro their first denim manufacturing plant, the Proximity Cotton Mills, named for its close location to cotton fields, warehouses, and rail lines. Nearby they constructed a building that was to serve as a headquarters for Proximity Cotton Mills and other cooperative plants controlled by the Proximity Manufacturing Company. Ceasar Cone served as president. In 1899, the Cones partnered with Emanuel and Herman Sternberger of South Carolina to build Revolution Mills, a flannel production plant, in Greensboro. In 1905, the Cones built White Oak Mill, another denim plant in Greensboro under Proximity Manufacturing Company. In 1912, the Cones opened Proximity Print Works, one of the earliest cloth printing facilities in the South.

In 1927, the Cones acquired Cliffside Cotton Mills, which included both the terry cloth-producing Cliffside Mill of Cliffside, N.C., and the chambray-producing Haynes Plant of Avondale, N.C. By 1929, they had aquired Holt-Granite Puritan Mills Company of Haw River, N.C., which for the Cones served as the corduroy-producing Granite plant, and Tabardrey Manufacturing Company. By 1932, the Cones had gained controlling stock of Eno Cotton Mills of Hillsborough, N.C. In 1941, they bought the Florence Mills of Forest City, N.C., and its subsidiary, American Spinning Company of Greenville, S.C. In 1945, many of the manufacturing companies, mills, and various subsidiaries owned by the Cones underwent a major reorganization in which the separate business operations of Proximity Manufacturing Company (including Proximity Cotton Mills, Proximity Print Works, White Oak, and Granite), the Cliffside Mills (including the Cliffside and Haynes plants), the Florence Mills (including American Spinning Company), Minneola Manufacturing Company, Salisbury Cotton Mills, Tabardrey Manufacturing Company, and Cone Export & Commission Company, were all organized under Proximity Manufacturing Company. In 1948, another major merger occured, this time beween Revolution Mills and Proximity Manufacturing Company, and the consolidated company was named Cone Mills Corporation. While operating as Cone Mills Corporation, the company was known as the world's largest producer of denim. In 1950, Cone Mills Corporation announced a merger with Dwight Manufacturing Company of Alabama, a twill and drill manufacturer, and the following year purchased the company outright. Also in 1951, Cone Mills Corporation went public, beginning trade on the New York Stock Exchange, and created Guilford Products Company to manufacture cloth diapers to meet the demand of the postwar baby boom.

From 1958 to 1969, Cone Mills Corporation was involved with the annual Miss North Carolina Pageant. The company provided fabric for wardrobes that were given to each year's winner and also for the presentation gown that each winner wore to represent North Carolina in the annual Miss America Pageant. For many of these years, Cone's public relations department collaborated with local clothing designer Luther Self to produce the wardrobes. Cone Mills Corporation discontinued its involvement in 1970 due to a dispute between the 1962 Miss America winner from North Carolina and the Miss North Carolina runner-up over rightful ownership of the wardrobe that had been provided by Cone.

Cone Mills Corporation continued to expand by acquiring John Wolf Textiles in 1961, which marketed decorative home fabrics, and organizing Olympic Products in 1962, which made foam products.

When faced with a potential takeover by Western Pacific Industries in 1983, the company went private again until 1992. In 2003, Cone Mills Corporation filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. By 2004, all of Cone's assets had been acquired by W. L. Ross and Company and were then combined with what remained of Burlington Industries to form International Textile Group Incorporated.